Hospital beds are well known, and typically include a mattress supported by a steel frame, which may have a wheeled base, and may have means for raising a portion of the mattress above its horizontal plane. Such hospital beds may also possess a set of guardrails which may be moved from a low position below the plane of the mattress to a high position above the mattress plane in order to prevent a sedated patient from inadvertently falling from the bed onto the hospital floor.
Patients recuperating from brain injuries or suffering from Alzheimer's disease or dementia can experience confusion and agitation. These patients can injure themselves by leaving their beds unassisted. The conventional hospital bed, even with raised guardrails, is not a satisfactory solution to this problem because it is not designed to restrain a patient who is actively attempting to leave his bed.
It is of course possible to physically and/or medicinally restrain a patient to a bed. However, such restraint precludes the patient from moving about and changing position. Moreover, physical restraints can cause emotional problems and put strain on the patient and the hospital staff. Similarly, medicinal restraints can increase patient confusion and delay recovery time. See generally, Williams et al, "The Emory Cubicle Bed: An Alternative to Restraints for Agitated Traumatically Brain Injured Clients", 15Rehabilitation Nursing 30 (1990).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,246 discloses a cubicle bed for protectively confining a traumatically brain injured patient. The cubicle bed includes a two part rectangular base having a padded upper surface atop which the patient rests, and also includes removable upright padded end panels connectable to each end of each part of the base, and pivotably openable and removable side doors. The end panels and doors, when in place and closed, form a fully padded perimeter wall around the edges of the base which are sized in height above the base so that the patient's view of the surrounding activity outside the cubicle bed is limited.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,740 discloses a patient restraint bed having a mattress and a vertical wall extending about the entire periphery of the mattress. The wall includes lightweight panels disposed in one or more courses. A gate is provided in one section of the wall by gate panels hingedly mounted at one end and latchably mounted at an opposite end. Panels other than gate panels are rigidly mounted in place with respect to one another. Each panel has a rigid structural exterior section and an interior padded section. The padded sections are disposed so that padding is provided over substantially the entire interior side of the wall when the panels are assembled in the walls.
Cubicle beds having padded walls address some of the problems raised by physical/medicinal restraint of agitated and brain injured patients. However, such cubicle beds create additional problems in that their padded walls make visual monitoring of the patient difficult, and may make the patient feel isolated and even claustrophobic.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,387 discloses a bed enclosure which is formed of a supporting framework and an associated covering provided with suitably arranged zippered areas for providing access to the patient from the exterior of the enclosure. However, the enclosure requires the use of a separate and conventional hospital bed. The bed/enclosure combination suffers from several disadvantages. First, the enclosure must be closely sized to the bed's outside dimensions to preclude the possibility of the patient's extremities (arms, legs, and even head) entering and possibly becoming stuck in a space between the bed and the enclosure. Second, the bed/enclosure combination may not be easily transportable as a unit, or even require disassembly prior to transporting a patient from one room to another within the hospital.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,874 discloses a child and infant enclosure structure comprised of tubing sections of lightweight, high modulus, fiber reinforced plastic matrix composite.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cubicle bed which will safely prevent a patient from leaving, yet not physically restrain the patient to a single position.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cubicle bed which permits easy visual monitoring of the patient.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved cubical bed which permits rapid access to patients who require medical care, and which reduces the need for one-on-one patient supervision.
A feature of the invention is a cubicle bed having a sturdy, non-steel frame which is lightweight and non-corrosive, and which can be easily cleaned.
Another feature of the invention is a substantially transparent mesh panel attached to the frame which prevents patient egress but permits convenient patient monitoring by a caregiver.
Still another feature of the invention is a rapidly releasible attachment for securing the substantially transparent mesh panel to the non-steel frame, thereby permitting prompt medical attention to be provided to the patient.
An advantage of the present invention is the ability to rapidly and safely transport the cubicle bed with a patient inside. Additional advantages include economical and lightweight construction, and easy maintenance.